Creator, Gun Runner give Asmussen two solid chances in Travers 2016

"There's only one Travers," said Scott Blasi, assistant to newly minted Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen when asked about sending out both Belmont Stakes winner Creator for WinStar Farm and Bobby Flay as well as Matt Winn Stakes victor Gun Runner for Winchell Thoroughbreds, Three Chimneys Farm, and Besilu Stables in the Grade 1 Travers.

"They are horses with two different styles," said Blasi. "They are 3-year-olds only once and you've only got one shot to win it."

The gray or roan Creator, a son of Tapit and a dual Grade 1 winner who took the Arkansas Derby in April, is a stone closer while the chestnut Gun Runner, who dusted the field with a gate-to-wire 5 ½-length win in the Matt Winn, prefers to maximize his early speed.

On Thursday morning, exercise rider Abel Flores took both colts through their paces, galloping Creator 1 1/2 miles and Gun Runner 1 1/4 miles, and afterward Blasi reported that he was very pleased with the energy level and demeanor of both. He was set to bring both horses to the paddock before the fifth race.

"Hopefully, one of them gets it done Saturday," said Blasi.

Gun Runner, who exits a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, in which fellow Travers runners Exaggerator and American Freedom finished 1-2 over a sloppy track, has five wins from eight starts.

"Gun Runner's only two bad races on his form were on a sloppy racetrack and we just have to forgive him for those. He doesn't like it," said Blasi.

Asmussen, who was in town for Gun Runner's final breeze on Tuesday over the training track, is due to arrive back in Saratoga on Friday night.

Source: NYRA Communications